Five-time champion Venus Williams was knocked out of the 2010 Wimbledon Championship following a shock one-sided defeat to Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova on Tuesday afternoon.
Williams was seeded to meet sister Serena in the final at SW19 on Saturday.
However, 22-year-old Pironkova produced a scintillating display to win 6-2 6-3 and advance to the semi-finals.
She broke Williams twice to run out a convincing winner of the first set and despite the players swapping breaks in the second, Pironkova had too much in hand to ease to victory.
Pironkova said, “It seems like a dream. Coming here, I never thought I’d play this well and reach this part of the tournament. I’m very happy.â€
Pironkova will meet 21st seed Vera Zvonareva, who got the better of 8th seed Kim Clijsters in three sets (3-6 6-4 6-2), in the semi-finals.
The path to a fourth Wimbledon success for defending champion Serena looks relatively straightforward after the younger Williams sister’s 7-5 6-3 win over Li Na.
Williams will face the unseeded Petra Zvitova, who edged past Kaia Kanepi 8-6 in the final set following a titanic struggle.
Wimbledon women’s singles quarter-final results:
Kvitova (Czech Republic) bt Kanepi (Estonia) 4-6 7-6 8-6
Pironkova (Bulgaria) bt V. Williams (USA) 6-2 6-3
Zvonareva (Russia) bt Clijsters (Belgium) 3-6 6-4 6-2
S Williams (USA) bt Li (China) 7-5 6-3
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